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For 20-year-old Caleb Watt, the desire to join the police can be traced back to at least age 5.

"I think there's a video my parents have got when I was 5, of saying I wanted to be a police officer, running around in my little uniform," he said.

Mr Watt is one of four police recruits who started at the Whanganui Police Station on Monday.

Fellow recruit Jessica Parkin, 23, realised as a teenager she wanted to be an officer, while 23-year-old Nicholas Martell figured being an officer would be "way more exciting" than his original goal of being a teacher.